Incentives: Rebates for buyers of fuel-efficient cars, fees on the purchase of gas-guzzlers.

SACRAMENTO 
SACRAMENTO – A draft blueprint to stem global warming counts on businesses and everyday Californians to accept a mix of tough regulations and new fees, perhaps as much as $1.5 billion a year collected on targeted products and water bills.

The state Air Resources Board spent yesterday drawing praise and protest for its groundbreaking initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming.

Regulators now will refine the plan before they gather next month for a final vote on the blueprint, which would require a gradual rollback in emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020, an approximately 25 percent cut.

Their vast proposals include allowing businesses to buy and sell emission credits, imposing fees on water use and requiring utilities to generate 33 percent of electricity from renewable sources. Vehicles are major targets: The plan lays out a framework for pursuing strict limits on tailpipe emissions.

Specifics, including detailed regulations, financial incentives and fees, will still need to be hammered out among regulators and lawmakers in time for a 2012 launch.

The air board hearing was just one in a string of developments over recent days that signal a willingness to confront the global warming threat even during a worldwide economic slump.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., yesterday introduced legislation calling for the federal government to invest $15 billion annually in clean energy, a move she said would reduce reliance on oil and coal while stimulating job growth.

Boxer also proposed a national “cap and trade” program that would limit industry emissions. To encourage compliance and investment in clean technology, companies that come in under the cap would be provided pollution credits that then could be sold to other businesses. Those companies could use the newly bought credits to comply with emissions standards. California already is pushing that idea as part of the air board plan.

“By investing in clean energy technologies and reducing our dependence on foreign oil, we also have a recipe for economic recovery,” Boxer said in a statement.

Boxer's package is similar to proposals advanced by President-elect Barack Obama, who addressed world leaders gathered in Beverly Hills this week for a two-day global warming summit organized by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In remarks delivered by video Tuesday, Obama unequivocally committed to pursuing remedies. “Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,” the Democrat said.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has gained international recognition for aggressively attacking global warming, said he's eager to join forces.

“We in California are ready to go and do everything that it takes in order to help his administration to follow through with his environmental vision,” the governor said.